Student life: A great gateway to Russian society

Young professionals looking to work in Russia should try taking a year off and living in the country as a student. This is one of the best ways to learn the language and begin a discovery of the ‘Russian Soul’.

Over the last few years, there’s been a renewed interest in
Russia among young Indians. There’s the go-getter crowd for whom places like
Moscow offer a lot of action and excitement and there are others looking for a
more unique experience and exploring an exotic and mysterious culture. The fact
that despite the current economic slowdown in the country, Russia still needs a
large number of foreign specialists make the country a good place for a young
professional in the medium to long run.

When people ask me about opportunities in the country, I
often recommend that young professionals take a year off and enrol for a
Russian language course in a smaller town or city. Moscow and St Petersburg are
great cities to live in with a lot of history and culture, but they have large
student communities as well as a reasonable number of young people who can
speak decent English. In most cases, such people are more than eager to
practise their English with a foreigner than let him or her learn Russian.

There are ever-so common complaints that Indian students
stick to each other and forms exclusive groups when studying in Russia. To an
extent, this is understandable as it is not easy to adjust to completely new
way of life, where everything from food, the weather and day to day life are
different from home. However, by being
in a place that does not have an Indian student community, one is more or less
forced to assimilate to survive.

Many of the smaller towns and cities in Russia have state
universities that have small departments catering to a smattering of foreign
students. By enrolling in these universities, young professionals get a proper
window into Russian society and see the country the way the majority does.
There’s also the “exotic” value that an Indian student is likely to have by
living in a city or town without any Indians. This would be a great opportunity
for a student to create a wonderful impression of India, by being an unofficial
ambassador for the country.

Those who believe that the centre of economic gravity is
shifting from West to East should look at places like Vladivostok, which is in
Asia and a short flying distance to cities like Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul.
Other wanting to be closer to Europe can consider many smaller towns in Central
Russia, with storied histories and fascinating architecture.

While living in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, I enrolled for a part-time
course in the Russian language and this not only helped me dramatically improve
my Russian, but connected me with a lot of young, curious and interesting
people. If there’s one thing about student life in small town Russia that I can
vouch for, it’s the fact that Russian students know how to have the most amount
of fun from what they have. It wasn’t just about sports, vodka parties or
spontaneous picnics. Being with students really helped open many doors for me
and gave me a chance to get an up close and personal look at the society I
lived in.

Most of the expats on Sakhalin Island lived in specially
built gated communities, which had just about everything from health clubs and
restaurants to schools. The only thing missing in them were (oddly enough)
grocery stores. These people had strange ideas of the locals and felt
uncomfortable to be away from the familiar surroundings of their expat-oriented
world. There were many who worked on oil projects for years and could not speak
three words of Russian. This comfort zone existence ensured that many of these
people wasted a great opportunity to learn a language that is sought after in
many parts of the world.

For a young Indian professional, whatever the field he or she
may be in, a year in Russia learning the language would help in assessing the
country for its merits and minus points and really understanding if it was
worth moving for the long run. A growing number of professions in the country
need people with some amount of proficiency in the language.

At the moment, India has far too few Russian specialists; and
by specialist, I don’t just mean people who are fluent in the Russian language.
A true specialist understands the culture, psyche, society and this complex
phenomenon known as the Russian Soul.
It’s impossible to really be an expert on the country without living
there for some period of time. A sabbatical as a student gives a person enough
time and space to explore and understand Russia.